About the commencement of the present century, the Connaught secondary gentry, who seldom thought of going to Dublin, used, besides rigging themselves out at Ballinasloe Fair, to have their common and occasional wants in the way of raiment, jewellery, and spicery, supplied by pedlars, who went about the country with large and strong chests stowed on carts, and which contained often valuable assortments of goods of all kinds. These persons were of such respectability, that some of them dined at the tables of the gentry, and giving, as they generally did, credit, they were very acceptable, and were treated with all possible consideration. In fact, there was a considerable smuggling trade carried on along the whole western coast; and in return for our Irish wool, the French silks and jewellery, and the Flanders goods, came in without the intervention of a custom-house. In promoting this traffic, many of the western proprietors were concerned, and it is said that families who wear coronets became right wealthy by the export of wool, and the import of claret and French fabrics.
Be this as it may, the itinerant pedlars I have just alluded to were the convenient purveyors of this contraband, and their good offices were on all hands acknowledged.

Of these, Mrs Bridget Bodkin was not the last active, or ingenious. She sprang from one of the tribes of Galway, and though the gentry of the west looked down on regular traders and shopkeepers, Biddy Bod, as she was called, was considered honourable; for she was very useful and many a wedding as well as wedding gear, was the result of her providence.
A large fleet of East Indiamen, unable to beat up channel, from long-continued north-easterly winds, was obliged to put into Galway Bay for water and provisions, and there these huge merchantmen lay at anchor, freighted, as at present, not only with tea and indigo, but with those delicate muslins which Manchester had not yet learned to imitate. Now, it was known to Biddy Bod that each officer and sailor, might have a supply of such valuable goods as a private venture, and to make her own market, she went on board. Expert as she was in smuggling, she know how and where about her own ample person to stow away soft goods; for she (mind you, fair reader) was not straight-laced as you may be;
By nature large, she still did not care to tighten herself up as if she would be a wrap. On the contrary, she poor thing would become quite dropsical – the swelling of her legs and body was sometimes awful. What medicine she used to get down the enlargement, whether belladonna of digitalis, is not recorded, but she did now and then keep down her dropsical dispositions and, during the low state of her internment, “became small by degrees and beautifully less.”
On her return from the India fleet, Biddy Bod had a full fit of this dropsy. Her body was like a rhinoceros;s, her legs like those of the largest elephant of the King of Siam; she might have got the elephantiasis from being for a time so near, while on board the fleet, the elephant which the Nabob of Arcot was sending as a present to Queen Charlotte. And so she landed, in all her amphoteric, west of Claddagh. There she also (as I may say) tapped herself. She unrolled from her person gold and silver muslin, the wonders of the India loom and Cashmere shawls ( that a lady might cover herself from head to foot, and yet they would pass easily through her wedding ring). These she stuffed into the hollow of an immense pillion on which she rode.
Biddy mounted her large black button-tailed mare with her padded pillion, her man Luke is before her, her arm confidingly placed around said Luke’s waist, and off they went slow-paced and sure. They got away from the town of Galway – and the custom-house, the dreaded customhouse. On entering on the interior, the road to Athenry all seemed safe. Until, at the turning of the road, out bounced a smart, dapper, active eyed, but rather diminutive man, who caught hold of the rein of her bridle.
“Madam,” said he.
“You must excuse me for stopping you. While I have every desire to be civil to a lady, having received information I can depend on, that you have just landed from the East India fleet with a quantity of goods about you, you must submit to be searched. I must now proceed to do so, in the most accurate manner consistent with my respect for your sex and quality.”
Biddy was at this account, no doubt, surprised and distressed, but in no way thrown off her centre. Without any hesitation, she replied:
“Sir, many thanks to you for your civility. I am quite aware you are but acting according to information, and doing what you consider your duty; and sir, in order to show how much you are mistaken, I shall at once alight; but I am sure, sir, a gentleman like you will help a poor, infirm woman, labouring under my sad complaint, to alight with ease. The mare – bad manners to her – is skittish, and it requires all my servant;s hands to hold her.” To the servant she said;
“Luke, avick! This gentleman insists on taking me down; hold hard the beast while I am alighting – I’ll do my endeavours to get off – there sir – so Button” (speaking to her horse.)
“Now, hold up your arms, sir, and I will gently drop. Yes, that will do.”
And with that she plopped herself into the little dapper excise man’s arms.
A summer tent, pitched on a Syrian meadow might as well bear up against the down tumbling avalanche as this spare man could the mountain of flesh that came over him. Down he went sprawling, as Biddy had intended he should do, and she uppermost, moaning and heaving over him. And there they lay, when with stentorian voice, Biddy cried to her boy Luke;
“Luke, bouey, ride off; never mind me; the gentleman, I’m sure will help me up when he can! Skelp away mo bouchall.”
In the meanwhile, the excise man lay groaning and Biddy moaning.

I shall not attempt to describe the remainder of this scene; I leave it to the imagination of the reader to suppose that the smuggler kept her position just so long as she though it gave time enough for her property being carried far away from the hands of the overwhelmed gauger.

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Freeman’s Journal 22nd August, 1862 p.4 (abridged)

The BurrenPhoto: EO’D

Colonel White and his Burren Tenantry.
Ballyvaughan 10th August;
The village of Ballyvaughan was today the scene of much bustle and excitement consequent on the arrival amongst us of Colonel White’s agent, the Right Worshipful Wm. Lane Joynt, Mayor of Limerick. That gentleman is deservedly popular with all classes, from the manner in which he discharges the duties of his agency, and the numerous acts of kindness and benevolence which he has practiced towards the tenants and workpeople of Colonel White, especially those who stood in need of help.

Colonel White became the purchaser of the Ballyvaughan estate from the Duke of Buckingham in 1840. He also bought part of the Scott estate and the Bindon or Curranrue estate, which stretches from Ballyvaughan to the village of Curranrue, so that in fact he is the owner of a princely estate in this portion of the county, besides the others he possesses near Broadford and Labasheeda.

Those who knew the Burren estate in 1849 describe the change as marvelous which capital, skill, and perseverance have enabled Colonel White to effect. The farm-roads, neat houses, nicely squared large fields, and comfortable aspect of the tenantry, especially the labouring classes, are highly prepossessing, while the scenery in the valley is truly sublime. The latest work of Colonel White, carried out under the superintendence of his agent, Mr Joynt, is a road which ascends the mountains to a bog of unequalled depth and quality, and the opening up of which will confer a great advantage on the inhabitants of the district, especially at a time when turf is almost a luxury for the rich.

Burren flowersBlue GentianPhoto: EO’D

During the past season, when employment from any quarter was not to be obtained, Colonel White gave numbers enough to do, and thus literally kept them out of the workhouse. This and many other kind acts for which the people here regard Colonel White and Mr Joynt, led them to present the latter with an address, and when I add that it was presented and read by the Rev. P.J. Ryder, P.P. and Rev. R. B. Huleatt, the rector of the parish, who was chairman of the meeting, your readers will agree that it was a deserved compliment or such a combination could not have occurred. Mr Ryder read the address which had the consent and approval of every tenant and workman on the estate.

The Mayor of Limerick then said he had to thank his good friends for the address, which was as complimentary as it was unexpected. He accepted its welcome, but their thanks were wholly due to Colonel White. He it was who, having purchased the estate, conceived the notion that by improvements in drainage, by the erection of houses and out-offices, by the sub-soiling and clearing of the fields, the erection of proper walls and bounds, and, above all, the making of a complete system of farm roads in the valley, it would become as productive a property as any which he possessed. Now, they all knew that the period at which he undertook to do this was one of signal depression and calamity. Other men were then flying away from their properties, tenants were then quitting their homesteads, the rates and taxes were then equal to the farm rents. It was in the year 1849. That expresses all he could convey of the courage it required to make the purchase. The rest they know.

Of the employment Colonel White since hat time had given, and the large sums expended, the appearance of the estate was the best proof and the repayment. They were now, thanks to his continued disposition to develop the resources of the estate, completing the road to the bog at an expense of about one thousand pounds, and the road itself as a proof of engineering skill and boldness was worthy of a visit. It would render the inhabitants independent of the supplies of turf from Connemara.

He rejoiced to be able to tell Colonel White that the employment afforded to the labouring classes had kept many from want, misery and the workhouse, and better value could not be found for the amount expended as the works were a credit to all concerned.

Colonel White’s wish was not merely to give employment to the labourers, but also to aid such of his tenants as in the hour of need may, by good conduct, have entitled themselves to his consideration. It was a source of much pleasure to him to say that no eviction had taken place, no distress for rent had ever been made, or required to be made, since the period of his appointment. At the turn of the century there was only one road, and that a bridle path into the valley from Gort. Now there were four as fine public roads as any in Europe. The breed of cattle and the cultivation of farms had improved. Their Burren oysters were unequalled all the world over. The houses were large, well built, and slated; and the labourers’ dwellings were well built and comfortable and their condition very much improved. The only regret he had was that the beauties of the valley – of its exquisite wild plants – of its ruins and its history, should be so little known to the public. Miss Martineau (no mean authority) compared it to the Syrian valleys, and had his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant been able to adopt the suggestion he took the liberty to offer, that he should on his late visit to Clare travel round the cliffs of Moher, by Doolin, Blackhead and Ballyvaughan, he was satisfied his travelled and cultivated experience would have derived new pleasures from scenes of such unequalled but almost unknown magnificence and grandeur. The noble lord would, as every lover of nature did, admire the noble bay which spread out before them, as beautiful as the Bay of Salamis, the primeval mountains which surrounded them, clothed in the same grey garments as they had worn since the first dawn of creation.

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Strabane Chronicle 6th March, 1926 p.4

Folio 170r of the Book of Ballymote – (c1390) explaining the Ogham script.Wikimedia Commons

Evidence that an early Irish Empire flourished in the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries, with teachers and missionaries spreading its learning and culture into Germany, France and Switzerland, has been given in a series of lectures delivered at the School of Irish Studies, 6 West 12th Street, New York City by Mr Benedict Fitzpatrick.
The early Irish, stated Mr Fitzpatrick, colonised Scotland, Cornwall and Brittany. They traded with Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Azores in the sixth century. The Norwegian Government treasures some Irish manuscript books, a metal bell and crozier found in Iceland in 860 A.D.
In the eight century a scientific delegation went from Ireland to measure the Pyramids – their measurements being quoted by Discuil, who wrote early in the ninth century.
Along the Rhine many teaching centres were established by Irish missionaries. Documents translated from the “Monumenta Germaniae Historica” indicate that Irish literature colonies existed in Cologne, Salzburg, Aix-la-Chapelle, Metz, Cambrai, Rheims, Tours, Verdun, Milan, and Constantinople.
Discovery of the earliest Irish poet was made during ten years of research by the lecturer. Sedulius travelled from Ireland to Liege about 840 A.D. and has left 120 poems in Latin, ranging from an attack on the Archbishop of Liege for not providing proper sleeping quarters or sufficient food and wine for the four poets and teachers of philosophy who had arrived from Ireland at his request, to a poem in classical Latin depicting a quarrel between a lily and a rose as to which had the most beauty.
German learned societies preserve other writings of Sedulius, the Irish poet, one being a treatise on government addressed to Charlemange; others, patriotic poems about Ireland. The words, “The Irish Nation” were recorded by Sedulius.
In Ireland there were thirty-six schools that survived for over five centuries, four of them issuing degrees like modern universities. There is a Latin document still preserved in the Oxford Library, of Senan, who on one day in 536 A.D. saw five shoploads of students from Europe sailing up the River Shannon to the school at Clonfert, which accommodated three thousand students.
Irish illuminated manuscripts and books of the early centuries were to be found in all the great European libraries and collections.

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Connacht Tribune 2nd March, 1929 p7

New Quay, County Clare

Burren Barracks – Protest against its removal

Over one hundred and fifty signatures, headed by that of the parish priest, have been appended to a petition of protest against the proposed removal of the civic guards’ barracks from New Quay, County Clare. The petition has been forwarded to the Chief Commissioner and is as follows;

We, the undersigned, being representative of the residents of the parish of New Quay, desire to protest most strongly against the proposal of the Executive to abolish our civic guard station. We cannot contemplate that such a serious step will be taken, if only we can make our representations clear to you.As people with a genuine stake in the country, and as taxpayers, we cannot conceive any greater misfortune than that our lives and property – especially the latter – should be left to the tender mercy of a certain section, who, no doubt, are too anxious for a return of the state of affairs existing prior to the arrival of the guards here, when raids, robberies and general lawlessness were the order of the day.We take the opportunity of informing you that New Quay is fast regaining its rightful place amongst the seaside resorts of this country, and is on the main road leading from Galway to Lisdoonvarna Spas, and visitors from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland are annual visitors here.

New Quay ‘phonePhoto: Mark WatersFlickr Commons

In particular do we emphasise the need for a guards’ station here when we state the awful trafficking in poteen by Connemara boatmen – so leisurely carried on in the absence of the guards, to the detriment, morally and physically, of the youth of this district – is now a thing of the past; but with Kinvara on the one side and Ballyvaughan on the other, both eight miles distant, a ready and convenient landing-place for that vile spirit would be provided by the removal of the guards from here. True the district has been practically crimeless for some years, but it is our considered opinion that the presence of the guards accounts for this. There are two post offices, two schools, and two licensed premises in the guards’ district, and combined with valuable property these deserve protection more than isolation, and we strongly feel an unprotected district will in time prove and expenditure rather than a saving to the country. We could advance several other reasons for so strongly objecting to the removal of the guards from New Quay, but we feel confident of having put forward sufficient to convince your Executive and you of how unwise it is to carry out any such proposal. We therefore leave the matter in your hands with confidence.
The petition is signed by the Rev. D. Hehir PP and about 150 parishioners.

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Freemans Journal 17th March, 1921 p4 (abridged)

TrifoliumPhoto: SupportstormWikimedia Commons

Vindication of the Irish Legend of the Shamrock
by Dr. W.H. Grattan Flood
Irishmen all the world over, regard the “green immortal shamrock” as a precious inheritance from St. Patrick and have for all time associated with the legend of the conversions of the early Irish by means of its homely simile. The beautiful old tradition represents the Apostle of Ireland when preaching at Tara inculcating the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. By a happy inspiration, seeing at his feet a bunch of shamrocks, or trefoil, he drew a comparison between the three leaves attached to one stem with the “Three Persons in One God.”

It is remarkable that latter-day writers seem inclined to regard the legend as “frankly modern” and that it cannot be traced much earlier than the first half of the 18th century. A recent authority goes as far as to assert that the very earliest allusion to the tradition of St. Patrick and the Shamrock is to be found in a note printed in the second edition of “Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bard” in 1794.

It is safe to say that the Shamrock Legend can be traced to the 8th century and that it was popularised on the Continent by the monks of St. Gall and other Irish missionaries of the 8th and 9th century. One thing is certain, namely that the St. Gall Antiphonary, dating from about the year 870 has the Shamrock legend well depicted. In one of the exquisite Sequences there is a glorious example of Irish interlaced ornament in which the shamrock is prominently featured. This illustration occurs in the illumination to be found in the initial letters of the Sequences for Easter, commencing “Laudes Salvatori voce modulemus supplici”, thus appropriately recalling St. Patrick’s preaching at Tara on Easter Eve.

Coming down to the 15th century the Half Farthings in the coinage for Ireland, issued by King Henry VI in 1460 bear the name Patrick and exhibit the trefoil. The Irish coins for 1461 also contain the shamrock as do also the Irish Crown Groats of Edward IV in 1470 and 1472.
Blessed Edward Campion S.J. (1571);
Spencer Stanihurst (1534), Trollope (1581), and other English writers refer to the shamrock. Of course it is well-known that the Irish coins of Henry VIII bore the Harp and the Shamrock.
On the Confederate coinage of 1643 there is a representation of St. Patrick explaining the doctrine of the Trinity by means of a shamrock. Contemporary documents of that period tell us that on the feast of St. Patrick in 1643 and 1644 the Irish troops made merry and wore shamrocks “in honour of the day.” Dimley in 1680 says that on St Patrick’s Day the Irish of all conditions wore shamrock crosses.
Even in London, in the first decade of the 18th century, it was customary for the exiled Irish to wear crosses in honour of St. Patrick and Dean Swift mentions that on St. Patrick’s Day, 1712-1713 when he was in the English metropolis, he almost imagined himself in Dublin;The Mall was so full of Patrick’s crosses that I thought all the world was Irish.

At Court
Caleb Threlkeld, M.D., in his published work on Irish Botany, printed in 1727, writes;The trefoil is worn by the people in their hats upon the 17th of March, which is called St. Patrick’s Day, it being the current tradition that by this three-leaved grass he emblematically set forth the Holy Trinity.
From the time of King George II, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1728, the feast of the National Apostle was observed at the English Court, and in the Dublin Gazette we read that on March 17th, 1728/9 the King and Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Princesses, all wore crosses in honour of the tutelary Saint of Ireland.
A London Letter in a leading Dublin newspaper for March 24/28, 1752 “Pue’s Occurrences” notes;
“St. Patrick’s Day was observed as a Collar Day at Court. The natives of Ireland adorned their hats with shamrogs, which are composed of a sort of grass called trefoil, which allusion is taken from St. Patrick’s first propagating Christ there and establishing the doctrine of the Trinity.”

As there is no one fit for the army but a soldier, so there is no one qualified to deal with or discuss constructively Bills affecting any particular branch of the nation’s life except those who have gained vocational experience from years of intelligent participation in the activities and functions of that particular branch. Therefore the Second House should be established on vocational lines, and composed of intelligent members of ripe experience. These members should be democratically elected on a vocational register so as to ensure that they will have the confidence of the people engaged in the respective vocations they represent.

However, while there are political parties in the Dáil it will be almost impossible for the vocational groups to elect members who have not leanings towards some political party, and in the course of their term of office it is conceivable that some politically tainted members might allow themselves to be influenced by the manner in which the “passing or obstruction” of a Bill would affect the fortunes of their party, and so in some cases they might sacrifice to party considerations the interests of vocational groups they represent.

A SAFEGUARD.

The BurrenPhoto:EO’D

To guard against this, until such time as both Dáil and Seanad are established on vocational or corporate lines, representatives of each vocational group should be subjected to a yearly vote of confidence by his group, and if he is judged guilty of negligence his salary for that year should be forfeited to the funds of the group.

In addition the group should have the power to withdraw the condemned representative from the Seanad and to elect another to his place immediately. The term of office for any particular Senate, once he is elected, should be decided solely by the group he represents. This will ensure that good representatives are retained, and inefficient ones are rejected and ejected before they have time to do irreparable damage.

TO HOLD UP BILLS,

As second thoughts are always best and as hot-headed Dáil Ministers do not always give themselves time to think twice before drafting .and introducing Bills, it would be well if the new Seanad had power to hold up a Bill until the Minister responsible had time to collect his second thoughts or agreed to have the matter referred to the people.

As well as having this power and also power to examine, criticise, and propose amendments to Bills from the Dáil, the Senate should also have the power to introduce Bills of its own for submission to the Dáil.

This power I regard as of prime importance if the Senate is to be a really effective vocational assembly. Here again it is a question of experience. It is only those who participate in the functions and activities of any vocation, and who have personal contact with the other members of that vocation, who can draw up or formulate a Bill that will cater for all the needs of that vocation and so satisfy its members.

ANOTHER REASON.

A further reason why the Seanad should have this power is the fact that as a result of its vocational composition and independence of party ties it will be free to introduce Bills, prompted not by political expediency but by a genuine concern for the welfare and prosperity of each particular vocation or business. Bills, therefore which will be free from all those faults and imperfections which they must otherwise have when emanating from a Dáil constituted and run according to the ruler and regulations of the party system.

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New Zealand Tablet Vol XX Issue 22, 18th March 1892 p27

1904 tug of warWikimedia Commons

THE IRISH WIN IN ADELAIDE.

(Sydney Freeman’s Journal.)

The Irish team, under Captain M. Ryan, have in the International Tug-of-War at Adelaide, South Australia, followed the example of their countrymen in Melbourne. In Melbourne Captain Flannagan carried the boys through without defeat, and secured the first prize of £100. In Adelaide the stout-hearted Irish also came through the tournament with an unbroken record against 17 competing teams, and carried off the bag of 100 sovereigns.

From the Adelaide Advertiser and South Australian Register we glean the following particulars of the last night and its exciting incidents. On Wednesday night, despite the exceedingly oppressive weather and a huge counter-attraction in the form of Messrs Sells Brothers’ Circus, the attendance at the Jubilee Exhibition Building to see the concluding struggle for the tug-of-war prize was a large one.

A horseshoe covered with flowers and adorned with yellow and black ribbon was hung from the supports on the southern end, the side the Swedish team had allotted to them. On the northern end was suspended a floral harp entwined with the coloured ribbon Irishmen so love. Enthusiasm, like the weather, was warm, and it became positively hot as the contestants for the first prize of £100 took their prices. Hearty applause was showered on both. In many parts of the building flags of emerald hue, ornamented with a harp in yellow, were to be seen waving to and fro by ardent Irish supporters.

A tug of war between asuras and devasAngkor Wat, CambodiaPhoto: Markalexander

The public feeling was evidently in favour of the sons of Erin, as when the National emblem, with green streamers attached, was suspended in front of them, cheer after cheer was sent up by the spectators. When the Irish team marched on to the platform to take up their position at the rope to the strain of a well-known national air, the applause was repeated, the excited ‘barackers’ giving vent to loud cries. Some little trouble was caused before the rope was tightened owing to the Swedes including a new man in their racks, but this difficulty was overcome by the Irishmen offering to pull them as they were.

When the first strain was put on the rope the cheering was deafening, and the Irish rapidly set to work Gradually inch by inch they brought their opponents over the rope, the crowds waving their hats frantically and urging their men to put forth every effort. The centre knot was gradually carried about a foot over the centre line, and with it in this condition it seemed as if there would be no alteration.

The continued strain soon began to tell upon the men, and the hot air in the building brought the perspiration out of them in immense beads. Although the Irish supporters kept up such a running fire of applause, and their opponents had such an advantage, the Swedes hung on to the rope pluckily, and by degrees brought the knot back. Flags and fans were worked in the direction of the Irish, and every effort was made in their quarter to encourage the men to pull. But the captains had the whole of their attention fixed on the teams, and whenever an opportunity was afforded a rush was made. The time went rapidly, and nine minutes before time was called the Irish had still an advantage of 10 in or a foot. The men then began to show signs of distress, but the strain on the rope was intense.

During the last five minutes the excitement was immense; the crowd seemed inclined to rush the platform, and they became almost frantic in their efforts to encouraged the men. The Swedes strained their hardest to regain the advantage obtained by the Irish, but it appeared to be of no avail. The Irish seemed to be embedded on the stage as firmly as a rock, and all efforts on the part of their opponents were fruitless. The Swedes tried to work the knot back by swaying from one side to the other, but no alteration was observable. The last-minute showed no difference in the state of affairs, and the second-hand worked its way gradually around with the knot still over the eleventh inch. It was still in this position when the half-hour gong sounded, and a second sufficed to allow the Hibernian supporters to rush the platform and chair the winning team to the dressing-room amidst deafening applause, a number of the spectators throwing down their hats on the floor and dancing upon them.

Wikimedia Commons

After a few minutes interval Ryan made his appearance on the platform, where in view of the onlookers he was presented with the first prize of 100 sovs. The Irish captain, Ryan, after receiving his prize, was permitted to take down the horseshoe. He did so, and handed it to the Swedish skipper. This generous act drew forth hearty cheers.

A third of the gross receipts, after deducting bare expenses, is to be divided equally between the winning teams and all losing teams. The Southern Cross, Adelaide, gives the following personal particulars of the team G. Sayers, 37, County Kerry, police constable; M. Molone, 34, County Clare, labourer; T. Magee, 26, County Clare, police constable; J.Aden, 30, County Wicklow, stoker; J. Patten, 42, Belfast, farmer; M. Flanigan, 35, County Clare, labourer; J. M. Flanigan, 40, County Clare, ganger; D. Ahearn, 40, County Tipperary, licences victualler; John Murphy, 26, County Leitrim, smelter; and B. O’Loughlin, 32, County Limerick, police constable. The captain of the team was M. Ryan, 35, County Clare, carpenter.

Unfortunately, on the opening night of the contest. G. Sayers hurt himself, and he had to retire but his place was well filled by J. Hogan, 31, County Clare, police constable. In the first trial between the Irish and Swedes, G. Sayers again took his place in the team but was afterwards obliged to give place to Hogan, who pulled in the subsequent events. The total weight of the team was 141 stone.

It will be noticed that the County Clare was well represented, six of the contestants having been born there. The police force is also strongly to the fore, as the team includes four police constables (F. O’Loughlin having proved himself a worthy anchor man), the others comprising two labourers, one stoker, one farmer, one ganger, one licensed victualler, and one smelter. The Irish team being composed mostly of working men were unable to train or prepare properly for the struggle.

————Nenagh Guardian 9th July 1910 p6

Photo: Keith Weller/USDAWikimedia Commons

There was a striking element of humour on Monday in Kinvara of “The Ould Plaid Shawl” when some stock belonging to Mr Corless, of the Sharpe estate, which were seized as a result of a decree for non-payment of rent, was offered for sale.

The house of Mr Gaffney, another tenant was taken possession of by the bailiffs as a result of another decree.

The reason assigned by Mr Corless and Mr Gaffney for allowing decrees to be obtained against them is that they wished to make a protest against the attitude of the landlord and the agent.

Mr M O’Donohue J.P. who was in charge of the pound when Mr Corless’ stock were impounded on Monday, took the responsibility of allowing the stock back to the farm until Tuesday.

Before the sale the stock were paraded through the streets of Kinvara. A milch cow was decorated with green ribbons and had a card of membership of the Town Tenants’ League attached to her horns and a card underneath bore the militant motto of “No surrender.”

A calf followed bearing another card with the inscription “Mother’s motto is mine.” Then came a little boy dressed in green, seated on a donkey, with the words “No surrender” printed on his coat.

The animals were purchased for £11 14s the amount of the decree, by Mr Colgan, a U.I.L. organiser. The sheriff’s bailiff then proceeded to Mr Gaffney’s premises and auctioned a pianoforte for £12 16s, Mr Colgan again being the purchaser.